1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a method for applying a belt-like member and an apparatus for practicing the same method, which are available generally in every step of the tire forming process but mainly useful for sticking a belt-like member made of a rubber sheet having a large number of cords buried in parallel therein onto a forming drum.
2. Description of the prior art
Generally in the manufacture of tires, the steps of cutting a rubber-coated cord-reinforced cloth having wires inserted therein at a predetermined bias angle or at a right angle, along the wires into a predetermined length to form an elongated belt-like member, wrapping the thus formed belt-like member around a forming drum, and joining the leading end and the trailing end of the member, are involved.
In the prior art, normally the belt-like member was wrapped around and stuck to a forming drum while its length in the longitudinal direction was being appropriately stretched so that when it had been finished to be wrapped, the leading end and the trailing end thereof might coincide with each other.
However, the cut angle of the cut end of the belt-like member had a distribution, hence the cut angles of the leading end edge and the trailing end edge were not always consistent. It was fairly probable that even if one should try to make the leading and trailing end edges coincide with each other, there would occur deviation or overlap.
Therefore, an attempt of correcting the cut surface of the belt-like member to have a predetermined inclination angle (Laid-Open Japanese Patent Specification No. 63-116838 (1989)) was proposed.
According to this proposal in the prior art, it was attempted that a swingable correcting arm is made to butt against the cut surfaces at the leading and trailing ends of the cut belt-like member to correct the inclination angles of these cut surfaces to a predetermined angle. Thus, the inclination angles of the end surfaces at the leading end and at the trailing end are made to coincide with each other, and thus joining of the opposite end surfaces can be effected properly.
However, since the leading end surface and the trailing end surface of the belt-like member which are respectively cut with a certain inclination angle are forcibly corrected to a predetermined angle by making the end surfaces butt against a correcting arm, for instance, as shown in FIG. 21(a) if an end surface having a cut angle of 71 degrees should be forcibly corrected so as to have a predetermined angle of 70 degrees. However, an acute angle portion at the tip end would somewhat protrude outwardly, and when such both end portions are joined together, an inconvenience of producing a step-shaped deviation d as shown in FIG. 21(b) is liable to occur.
In addition, in order to treat a member after cutting into a predetermined length, a separate treatment device becomes necessary, hence the apparatus becomes large-sized, a necessary space is largely occupied, and also an installation cost would be increased.